Eutelsat 70B is a commercial

communications satellite A communications satellite is an artificial satellite that relays and amplifies radio telecommunication signals via a transponder; it creates a communication channel between a source transmitter and a receiver at different locations on Earth. C ...

run by

Eutelsat Eutelsat S.A. is a French satellite operator. Providing coverage over the entire European continent, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and the Americas, it is the world's third-largest satellite operator in terms of revenues. Eutelsat's satellit ...

. It was launched on 3 December 2012 and is designed to provide telecommunication services for the Middle East, Central Asia, South East Asia and parts of Africa. It will replace

Eutelsat 70A Eutelsat 33B, formerly known as Eutelsat 3F1, Eutelsat W1, Eutelsat W5, Eutelsat 70A and Eutelsat 25C, is a telecommunications satellite owned by Eutelsat Consortium. Eutelsat W5 provides coverage to Europe, Middle East, and Asia. The satellite ...

, which was previously known as

Eutelsat W5 Eutelsat 33B, formerly known as Eutelsat 3F1, Eutelsat W1, Eutelsat W5, Eutelsat 70A and Eutelsat 25C, is a telecommunications satellite owned by Eutelsat Consortium. Eutelsat W5 provides coverage to Europe, Middle East, and Asia. The satellite ...

. That satellite, which was launched in 2002, currently occupies the same 70.5° E location this satellite is intended for.

Satellite

Eutelsat 70B was built by

EADS Astrium Astrium was an aerospace manufacturer subsidiary of the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS) that provided civil and military space systems and services from 2006 to 2013. In 2012, Astrium had a turnover of €5.8 billion and 18 ...

based on their Eurostar E-3000 bus. It contains 48

Ku band The Ku band () is the portion of the electromagnetic spectrum in the microwave range of frequencies from 12 to 18 gigahertz (GHz). The symbol is short for "K-under" (originally german: Kurz-unten), because it is the lower part of the ori ...

transponder In telecommunications, a transponder is a device that, upon receiving a signal, emits a different signal in response. The term is a blend word, blend of ''transmitter'' and ''responder''. In air navigation or radio frequency identification, a T ...

s in four distinct beams covering Europe, Asia, Africa and South East Asia. The transponders have bandwidths of 54

MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that one he ...

and 72 MHz and will operate on the frequencies 10.95 to 11.70

GHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that one he ...

, 11.20 to 11.45 GHz, 11.45 to 11.70 GHz and 12.5 to 12.75 GHz. The craft is 7 m high with a width of 8m due to the antennas. It is 30m long with solar panels extended. One of the functions of the satellite will be for secure government communications in Central Asia. The satellite was originally known as Eutelsat W5A until March 2012 when Eutelsat changed their satellite naming schedule. Eutelsat 70A, previously known as Eutelsat W5, will move to a different location once its replacement is operational, which is expected to be mid January 2013.

Launch

Eutelsat 70B was launched on 3 December 2012 by

Sealaunch Sea Launch was a multinational—Norway, Russia, Ukraine, United States—spacecraft launch company founded in 1995 that provided orbital launch services from 1999–2014. The company used a mobile maritime launch platform for equatorial lau ...

using a

Zenit 3SL The Zenit-3SL is an expendable carrier rocket operated by Sea Launch. First flown in 1999, it has been launched 36 times, with three failures and one partial failure. It is a member of the Zenit family of rockets, and is built by the Yuzhnoye D ...

rocket with a

Block DM-SL Blok D (russian: Блок Д meaning Block D) is an upper stage used on Soviet and later Russian expendable launch systems, including the N1, Proton-K and Zenit. The stage (and its derivatives) has been included in more than 320 launched roc ...

upper stage. It launched from the floating platform

Ocean Odyssey LP ''Odyssey'' is a self-propelled semi-submersible mobile spacecraft launch platform converted from a mobile drilling rig in 1997. The vessel was used by Sea Launch for equatorial Pacific Ocean launches. She works in concert with the assembly ...

at 154°W at Kiritimati in the Pacific Ocean. It was launched at 20:43 UTC and the satellite separated at 21:50 UTC and was placed into

geosynchronous transfer orbit A geosynchronous transfer orbit or geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) is a type of geocentric orbit. Satellites that are destined for geosynchronous (GSO) or geostationary orbit (GEO) are (almost) always put into a GTO as an intermediate step f ...

. It was given the

international designator The International Designator, also known as COSPAR ID, is an international identifier assigned to artificial objects in space. It consists of the launch year, a three-digit incrementing launch number of that year and up to a three-letter code repr ...

2012-069A and the

United States Space Command United States Space Command (USSPACECOM or SPACECOM) is a unified combatant command of the United States Department of Defense, responsible for military operations in outer space, specifically all operations 100 kilometers (62 miles) and grea ...

assigned it the

Satellite Catalog Number The Satellite Catalog Number (SATCAT, also known as NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense) Catalog Number, NORAD ID, USSPACECOM object number or simply catalog number, among similar variants) is a sequential nine-digit number assigned by the Un ...

39020. The launch was delayed for 24 hours as the floating launch pad was delayed arriving at the launch site. SeaLaunch-Odyssey

References

External links

Photograph of launchPromotional video from EutelsatLaunch and promotional video from Sea Launch
{{Orbital launches in 2012 Spacecraft launched in 2012 Communications satellites in geostationary orbit Eutelsat satellites